And that's not street fighting??
No, it's not. Unless by street fighting you mean friendly competition.
If the stories circulating about what was found on Martin's cell phone are accurate (and we don't know who was responsible for the hacking or if what's been circulated really was found there), these were 100% voluntary boxing matches with timed rounds, referees, and Marquis of Queensbury rules. The information indicates that Martin fought one match and may have refereed another. That's not criminal conduct, no matter how much you'd like to pretend it is. It's a violation of school rules and pretty stupid IMO, but it's not a crime to have a boxing match, or a wrestling match, or a fake Kung Fu duel, or anything of the sort with your friends.
His four suspensions from school were for
1. excessive tardiness
2. writing WTF on a locker
3. fighting on school grounds (not criminal)
4. having a baggie containing marijuana residue in his possession
#3 is most likely criminal, although usually such fights don't get reported to the police.
No, it's not. It's a violation of school rules but it's not criminal unless and until it violates criminal law. There's no criminal law that I know of that says you can't have a voluntary boxing match with your friends. Perhaps you can link to one.
#4 implies criminal activity.
It does. But it doesn't imply being the kind of person who would turn around and go after a creepy guy you had safely avoided.
That's the sum and total of Martin's known transgressions. There is nothing there to suggest that, having just escaped from a creepy pursuer, he would turn right around and and go after him.
You're ignoring the stolen jewelry that they swept under the rug.
You're ignoring everything we learned about that Miami Herald story including but not limited to:
1. There was no evidence to support the claim. No eyewitnesses were identified, and no documentation was presented.
2. The reporter said she saw a school district document. We don't know if she saw a genuine school district report, an altered report, a forgery, or if she made the whole thing up. We do know that such documents are held in strict confidence, so if she saw a genuine one it had to have been stolen. That or else she was given improper access to confidential documents in the place where they're stored, which is also a crime.
3. The only part of the Miami Herald story that could be independently verified was the part about the school reporting it had 'found jewelry' and asking the police to check to see if jewelry matching that description had been reported stolen. The police responded that they had no reports of stolen jewelry matching that description, and
nothing about the request indicated even the slightest link to Martin.
4. The Miami Herald pulled the story. Not even the paper that carried it is standing by it. No other news outlet (and there were several including the Boston Globe) could find any support for it.
Frankly, Loren, you seem all too credulous when a story comes along that paints Martin in a bad light. I shouldn't have to keep reminding you that that stolen jewelry story is just scurrilous gossip at this point. You should have checked it out when you first heard it, checked again when you wanted to discuss it again, and checked yet again before you brought it up a third time. This is the fourth time we're talking about it, and here you are acting as though everything in the Miami Herald story had been properly sourced and verified.
But even if that story had been shown to be true
there is nothing in it to suggest that Martin was the kind of guy who would turn around and go after a creepy stranger after having successfully avoided him. That rumor about Martin doesn't get you anywhere near to having evidence he would have attacked Zimmerman.
ETA: I forgot about this:
The scenario you present isn't outside the realm of possibility but it runs counter to ear-witness testimony from Jeantel and the neighbors, and it's such a strange decision for Martin to make that it requires support to be believable.
Is there anything in Martin's history that suggests he would do such a thing? Lots of people here have recounted times when they were followed by creepy strangers, and being upset about it was a pretty common theme, but none of them said they thought about going back to confront the creeper after they got away. What makes you think Martin was so different?
Jeantel wasn't honest.
I suspect the reason you think so is because you don't want to believe her testimony, but perhaps you have better reasons. So please show us whatever it was that you used to reach that conclusion.
